Georgia hands UK baseball 7th straight loss

From the outside looking in, Kentucky baseball seems to be in a world of hurt.

Joey Lewis led off the ninth inning with a homer as visiting Georgia completed a three-game sweep of the Wildcats with a 5-4 win Sunday.

The loss was UK's seventh in a row and sixth straight in the Southeastern Conference.

From the inside looking out, the Cats are confident that better days are ahead.

"We were one hit away (from big innings) several times. And while we didn't get that hit when we needed it today, I was really pleased with the competitiveness of our club," Coach Gary Henderson said. "Sometimes that may sound trite. But at a certain level, the competitiveness of your club is everything. And if we keep competing like we did today, it's going to turn for us."

Georgia (29-6, 11-4 SEC), already atop the SEC East, moved into first overall, half a game up on Arkansas.

"Now we've just got to grind it out. That's what real tough teams do," said Chris Bisson, who had three of UK's 10 hits. "Our record (18-16, 4-11 SEC) doesn't really show what we can do in the SEC. We could easily be .500 or better. We're a really good team. We have great starting pitching. We have guys that battle every at-bat. But right now the ball's just not falling for us."

UK left 10 runners on base Sunday and 33 for the series.

Bisson was stranded at second in the first inning and at third in both the seventh and ninth innings.

In the seventh, a two-out diving catch by left fielder Lyle Allen robbed Keenan Wiley of a bloop single.

In the ninth, Georgia's Jeff Weaver held on for his seventh save.

UK got a solid start from left-hander James Paxton. He walked two of the first three batters but settled down to toss six innings of five-hit ball, with one more walk. He struck out 10, his fourth double-digit total of the season.